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Albus was getting restless.
He cast a quick tempus and groaned before knocking on the door again.
“Ted, come on, let's go,” he shouted.
A minute later, the door opened and Teddy Lupin appeared, grinning.
“Eager, are we, Al? Hang on a second, Vega is just putting his coat on.”
Albus couldn't help but roll his eyes because he was getting jittery. Because he hated being late. Alright, maybe 'being late' was nothing unusual for him but he hated being late to this.
This being taking Teddy's children Nova and Vega to the magical children's bookshop in Diagon Alley, 'Spellbound'. They did readings of children's books there every Saturday morning and if Al was honest, this was the best hour of his whole week. Why? Because...
“Al! Nova! Vega! You've made it!” Scorpius Malfoy was jumping up and down with excitement in front of them, the kids immediately imitating him.
“Who's stoked for the Tale of Eliza the little Witch today?”
Instantly, Vega and Nova tried to out-“me!” each other, while Albus smiled softly at his friend. They'd been out of Hogwarts for four years now and while Albus was successfully employed at the ministry, Scorpius had decided to open up a book shop for kids. When Scorpius first told Albus about his plans in their 7th year, Al was rather wary. A bookshop? With the negative connotations still associated with the Malfoy name? For children? Really?
But Scorpius had just smiled softly at him and said: “It's what I want to do, Al.”
So Albus had done what every good friend would do: He'd supported Scorpius from day one and still came to the readings four years later. And if he had any reasons other than to give Teddy an hour of free time on Saturdays well... then that was his business and his business alone.
He really was proud of Scorpius and his bookshop. His friend had outdone himself decorating the place. The store itself was quite spacious with bookshelf after bookshelf lining the walls. While the shelves themselves were a rich caramel colour, the rest of the décor was held in rustic red, apricot and bronze. There were pieces of fabric pinned to the walls to make the room more colourful and warm. When Scorpius had first mentioned the colour scheme in which he wanted to decorate the store, Albus had frowned. Red? Orange? Really? But Scorpius had been absolutely convinced that “It'll look like autumn, Al! Which is the best season really. Everybody loves autumn. Especially book people like me. Right, Al? Right?”
And who was Albus to contradict him then.
Scorpius led them to the little makeshift stage at the back of the store, on which a single stool was placed. Surrounding the stage were huge red and bronze cushions, easily letting two or three children sit and lie on them. Albus made sure that Vega and Nova were comfortable before he joined them on a particularly red pillow and took their jackets off.
“Oh I cannot wait,” Nova exclaimed, excitedly rubbing her hands together in front of her face.
“Scorpius reads the best stories, doesn't he, V?”
Her brother nodded solemnly. “The best,” he agreed.
Albus smiled at them before directing his gaze at Scorpius who was just taking his seat on stage.
“Hi, hello, hello,” he grinned at the crowd. There must at least be 40 children there who all cheered at him.
“Let's see what I've got for you today, shall we?”
Scorpius pulled his wand out of the sleeve of the over-large emerald green sweater he was wearing and a second later, a thick, leather-bound book appeared in his lap.
There were several excited and astonished gasps from the crowd, to which Scorpius reacted with a blinding smile.
Albus' heart instantly beat a little quicker at the sight. He had no idea when it had happened but at one point in their sixth year, he'd had to admit to himself that he'd developed a crush on his best friend. Which was probably not the healthiest thing for him to do, he mused, as he kept pining away silently since that time. He also couldn't take his eyes off Scorpius whenever he was near, which had made him the butt of his family's and friend's jokes more than once in the past. When he'd first suggested taking Teddy's then three year old daughter Nova to Scorpius' readings, he'd just laughed and said: “Sure. Take my kid as an excuse to see him,” and winked.
Albus still shuddered at the memory. Was he really that obvious?
When Scorpius' eyes landed on his and his smile seemed to widen a fraction, causing Albus' heart to beat even faster, he just sighed and thought: I suppose I am that obvious, after all.
Scorpius opened the book to the first page and placed it flat on his knees.
“This is the Tale of Eliza the little Witch,” he started softly, letting his wand glide over the page. Sure enough, small sparks emerged from the book, forming the outline of a little girl, twinkling in the slightly darkened corner of the bookshop.
“Friendship is a wonderful thing. The little witch Eliza knew this of course, which is why she loved to spend time with her friends picking flowers, playing hide and seek and giggling until it was time for afternoon tea. She wished that her perfect little world would never change.”
The image of the sparkling little girl quickly turned into three children, surrounded by equally sparkly flowers. Scorpius smiled softly at the picture which caused Albus to smile softly at his friend. Even though he was usually loud and a nervous bundle of energy, he was very calm during his readings. Albus loved both sides of him equally.
He'd absolutely adored it when they went to Muggle London together and Scorpius had run from store front to store front, not able to comprehend how Muggles were able to sell flying toys. The way his eyes had grown impossibly wide at the sight of the M&M store on the Trafalgar Square and the absolute bliss when they had walked out said store with huge packs of M&M pick'n'mix.
“It began slowly. First, Elena brought her new pet Puffskein along and everyone admired it. Lacey even got to hold it for a while. Then, Toby had one of his own – a lively little thing that would lick over each of the child's faces. Suddenly, every single one of Eliza's friends seemed to have one, so she went home and asked her parents: “Can I have one, too? Please?”
Her father smiled at her when he put her to bed and told her a story about his first pet: A Bowtruckle that just followed him home one day.
“I don't want a Bowtruckle, daddy,” Eliza whispered into the dark as her father was just about to close the door, “I want a Puffskein. A purple one. Because purple is the best colour.”
“Good night,” her father said.”
The sparks turned themselves into small Puffskeins bouncing up and down and Vega gasped. “I want one,” he whispered in awe while Scorpius turned a page.
Albus loved the way Scorpius had always grown quiet and still when he read a book, the only movement coming from his lips as he silently formed the words he was reading, too emerged in the story to do anything else. He loved how Scorpius could spend hours in a bookstore, selecting his new reading material slowly and wisely and Albus simply couldn't stop watching his friend. Scorpius had always managed to navigate the bookshelves of Flourish and Blotts gracefully, never losing sight of the booktitles he muttered lowly to himself as he stepped over stacks of un-shelved books on the floor.
“Summer was almost over and Eliza was still the only child without a companion. She watched her friends and neighbours play and squish and cuddle their furry friends and threw her arms around herself so she could pretend that she was being hugged, too.”
Albus loved the way Scorpius hugged him now, after it had taken them years to get to this stage in their friendship. He loved how Scorpius' arms felt around him, as he hugged him as tightly as humanely possible, trying to get closer still. And he hated that Scorpius' had lived half his life thinking nobody would ever want to hug him. Because he was supposed to be evil. He was supposed to be Voldemort's child.
Albus remembered the first time they hugged, really hugged, with not an inch of space between them and Scorpius' had started giggling.
“Your hair tickles my nose,” he'd said and sneezed, then giggled some more.
“Is this something we do now? Hug this much? Because I might need some sort of face mask if we do. Because you're tickling me, Al.”
“Do you not want to hug?” Albus had asked, trying to mask his disappointment and fear of the other's answer. He needn't had worried because Scorpius' eyes immediately grew wide as he shook his head.
“No, I, yes, I do want to hug. I was, uh, just observing. But other than that it was an adequate hug. Er, a nice hug I mean. Wonderful. Warm and... you're squishy, you know? Not bad squishy but just...” he'd sighed and pulled on his hair in frustration, “I just like hugging you.”
Albus had tried to keep his face impassive but at the ramblings of his friend, he'd not managed to stifle the beaming smile that spread over his face.
“I like hugging you, too,” he'd said.
That had been in their fifth year. Thinking back to it now, Albus reckoned that that was the moment that he fell in love with Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy.
“When all of the green leaves hanging from the trees had turned a fantastic colour, Eliza's parents sat her down. Her mother smiled softly at her as she said: “We know how much you want a pet. So we decided to get you a pet.”
Eliza's eyes grew impossibly wide at the prospect but the light in them slowly dimmed, when her father brought in the newest addition to their little family. The beast was bigger than a Puffskein. It had white fur with silver streaks and glaring yellow eyes, which Eliza didn't like at all. She could make out sharp teeth and claws and couldn't help but fear the creature.
“This is a Kneazle,” her father explained grinning. “You can name her, Liz. Which ever name you want to give her.”
“Will she bite me?” Eliza asked, fear evident in her eyes. The Kneazle must be able to feel her anxiety, as it started making a low hissing sound. Eliza took a step back.
Her father let go of the animal and laughed.
“No, she'll not bite you. The wonderful thing about Kneazles, you see, is that they can sense deception. So she will be your guardian and protector of all things evil,” he said proudly and petted the Kneazle's head.”
The sparks had formed a large Kneazle and Scorpius pretended to pet it, smiling fondly at the conjured image. The sparks illuminated his face and made him look somewhat ethereal.
Albus' breath caught at the sheer beauty of it. He loved the way Scorpius interacted with other people or animals. Always open and honest and pure. Never unforgiving, never with hatred in his eyes. Scorpius' always saw the best in people even though there were still those who didn't see anything good in him. He loved Scorpius' horrible humour. He remembered pinching the bridge of his nose, unable to keep a straight face as Scorpius had cornered him a week after buying the shop and announced: “I'll name the shop 'Spellbound'. Because... you know, we use spells because we are wizards and books are bound so that the pages stay together and... a bookshop is an enchanting place!” He'd barely gotten the words out because he had to laugh so much at his own pun. In that moment, Albus was quite certain that he would never love anyone or anything as much as he loved him.
“And so, Eliza accepted the Kneazle as her new pet. When she tried to introduce it to her friends however, they laughed at her. “Why would you want a stupid pet like that?” they asked. “Can you squish it and hug it and throw it around?”
“No,” Eliza mumbled insecurely.
They laughed louder.
“What can it do?”
Eliza watched as her Kneazle lay on the grass, lazily looking up to the late afternoon sun.
“Nothing,” she admitted and already felt the beginnings of tears prickling behind her eyes.
“Nothing,” she repeated even though her friends had long left her standing next to her useless pet.
“I don't want you,” she shouted at the beast in frustration.
“I wanted a Puffskein.”
She was frustrated and sad and when the Kneazle still wouldn't give her any of its attention, she ran. She didn't know where she was running to and soon she realised that she was lost.
Eliza took in her surroundings and realised that she'd never been this far from her house before. Never left the street in fact.
Now? It was getting dark and there were a lot of houses that looked long abandoned. Some of them were missing the glass from the windows, others were missing parts of the roof. And not a single soul in sight.
Eliza started to shiver. She hadn't even brought her coat. She had no idea where she was. She pushed her chin up and muttered to herself:
“You can figure this out. You will be attending Hogwarts soon, after all!”
She tired taking the street back from where she had come but none of the houses or street lamps looked familiar to her; She soon noticed that she was walking in circles and sat down on the front steps of one of the broken houses.”
Albus loved how smart Scorpius was. How he'd always been top of the class back in Hogwarts and blushed so wonderfully when complimented on it. Albus loved how Scorpius would try to help him with his essays, rambling and talking in circles before groaning in frustration.
“I really want to help you,” he'd ground out behind his hands which he'd firmly clasped over his face in embarrassment.
“I just don't know how to explain.”
“That's alright Scorp,” Albus had said smiling and started to write the last part of his essay. Because he'd understood. He always understood what Scorpius was saying, without fail. Even if the other often thought he wasn't coherent enough. He was perfect for Albus.
“She couldn't help but let the tears escape from her eyes as she thought about her parents and how worried they must be. She thought of her friends who weren't really friends because friends wouldn't just leave her like that. She thought of their laughter as they walked away with their Puffskeins while...
Eliza started. Was that?
Sure enough, there was a white and silver moving thing running up the street and stopping in front of her. Yellow eyes were looking straight into hers and a cold nose was nudging her equally cold hands. She let her fingers stroke the Kneazle's head softly until it seemed to purr.
“You found me,” she whispered. Her pet seemed to be glowing. It was lighting up the whole street and Eliza could see much further than she had been able before.
“Can we go home?” she asked, hoping that the Kneazle would understand.
The two of them set off in the direction the Kneazle had come from. Eliza didn't let her pet out of her eyes and a very short while later, she found herself back on her street and her mother running towards her.
When she lay in bed that night, she thought about how scared she had been and how happy she was to be home again, when the door opened and her bed dipped. She smiled at the Kneazle that was curling up beside her, resting its head on her shoulder.
“Kneazle,” she said, wanting nothing more than to thank her pet. She stopped and frowned.
“You need a proper name,” she realised and started to think.
“How about Arienne? Would you like that?” the Kneazle nudged her shoulder and purred until Eliza couldn't help but giggle.
“Thank you Arienne. You are the best pet ever. You are my best friend.”
She kissed her pet on it's small head and closed her eyes.
The next time Eliza saw her friends, Arienne was with her. They laughed again and Eliza just smiled. They could laugh all they wanted. But would their Puffskeins find them when they were lost?
“I don't think so,” she whispered to Arienne consiprationally and smiled.
She realised that it didn't matter what other people thought of her and Arienne. She was so happy that she felt giddy all over. She placed her hand on Arienne's head and closed her eyes. She was happy. And that was the only thing that was important.”
Your happiness is the only thing that is important, Albus caught himself thinking as the children all cheered for Scorpius, who just beamed at them.
Scorpius started giggling, when the applause wouldn't die down and scratched the back of his neck.
“Thank you all so much for coming,” he smiled. And Albus' world crumbled around him. Five years was a long time to be in love. Sometimes it just hit him how far gone he was. But now wasn't the time to think of that, as Nova was pulling at his sleeve.
“That was wonderful, Albus, that was wonderful,” she squealed.
He grinned back at her, revelling in the happiness that radiated off her.
“It was, it was truly wonderful,” he said while putting Vega's coat back on.
“Now back home for a hot chocolate?” he asked and got very excited squeals in reply.
He nodded and put a scarf around Nova's neck.
“Unfair, I want hot chocolate, too.”
Albus whirled around, scarf half undone and looked in the crinkling eyes of his best friend.
“Get your own hot chocolate,” he said defiantly, turning back to the children and straightening out their clothes.
When he was content with the kid's state of dress, he looked at Scorpius again, who hadn't moved and still smiled at the three of them softly.
“Did you like the story?” he asked the kids with a lopsided grin and they agreed heartedly.
Albus agreed, too, just for the sake of it, thinking about the underlying sadness of the story and asking himself what had made Scorpius pick it.
Vega was the one incessantly pulling on Albus' sleeve now, which made Albus snap out of his thoughts.
“I want hot chocolate,” Vega whinged.
“Right, home, hot chocolate, bed,” Albus announced after regarding the boy and took each child by the hand.
“See you later, Scorp.”
Scorpius nodded and Albus knew that he ought to leave. He was coming back next Saturday anyway. They did talk to each other constantly as well. Somehow though, somehow he couldn't tear himself away. Scorpius ran his hand through his hair, making it look tousled and just the way Albus loved it best.
“So Scorp, if you really want that hot chocolate...” Albus started awkwardly, “want to come over to my place later?”
Scorpius' smile widened and he nodded enthusiastically.
Albus nodded back, somewhat stiffly.
“Right, let me get the kids home and uh, you come by whenever you can manage closing up.”
Albus finally made himself move and steered the children in the direction of their home, where Teddy was already waiting with hot chocolate. Albus had to love the man for his foresight.
“Can I just, uh, leave them with you?” he asked absent-mindedly. He usually came in for after-bookshop conversations but today, he didn't feel much like it. Mentally, he was already home, straightening up a bit, changing his clothes, going to the supermarket to get those tiny marshmallows he knew Scorpius liked. The pink ones, not the white ones.
“You okay, Al?”
He looked into Teddy's frowning face and sighed.
“Yeah, I, uh...”
“He invited Scorpius to his apartment,” Nova stage whispered and grinned.
Albus glared at her. She was way too perceptive for a six year old in his opinion. Teddy's eyes widened a fraction.
“That's nothing new, though? You two spend a lot of time together?”
Albus nodded.
“Yes. I pick him up for pub night, he picks me up for his dad's quidditch matches, I pick your kids up to go see him at the bookshop...”
“But you never hang out privately,” Teddy concluded, frown deepening.
“No,” Albus breathed, only now realising how utterly terrified he was.
“Why? I thought he is your best mate.”
“He is,” Albus quickly said, “he is, it's just... it never... the opportunity has just never arisen, as it were.”
Teddy nodded understandingly while freeing his kids of their outerwear.
“You gonna tell him how you feel?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I can't. You know that.”
Teddy straightened up again and leaned against the door frame, looking thoughtful. His hair was a chocolate brown colour today and he looked way too grown up for Albus' liking.
“I think you should, Al. You've been pining for years. This isn't... it's not... just. Do it...”
He was about to say something else, when a crash sounded from the kitchen and he started.
“Ah, shit, I have to...” he gesticulated widely and Albus nodded, “See you tomorrow at the Burrow for brunch,” he said before closing the door and chasing after his children.
______________________________________
Albus' Floo flared to life just a little after 6 o'clock in the evening and a tired looking Scorpius tumbled out.
“Sorry Al, loads of people were at the reading today which means loads of people who want to talk and loads of people who want to keep browsing and loads of people who buy books and ugh,” he mumbled, letting himself fall onto the sofa next to his friend. Albus was equally amused and taken aback by how naturally Scorpius fit into his flat. He'd never really been inside and yet he looked so natural lounging on Albus' couch, eyes closed and breathing softly. Like a missing piece, Albus' mind supplied. Before he could say that or something equally as humiliating, he made to get up and to go into the kitchen.
“Want that hot chocolate, Scorp?” he asked and got an enthusiastic nod in reply.
He came back with the beverages two minutes later and nudged Scorpius softly to hand him his mug.
“Thanks,” Scorpius whispered and smiled when he saw the marshmallows resting on top of his cream.
“I have marshmallows,” he stated happily, which made Albus smile.
“You do,” he agreed because the alternative that threatened to leave his mouth was: I will get you all the marshmallows in the whole wide world if you'll just never stop having this blissful expression on your face. I love you, I love you, I love you.
They emptied their mugs in silence, before Scorpius spoke up: “How did you like the story today?” he asked timidly, not really meeting Albus' eyes.
“I liked it a lot,” Albus admitted, thinking back to how the story made him think of Scorpius the whole time. “I thought it was so beautiful and it had a lovely message.”
Scorpius beamed at him.
“You really think so?”
Albus nodded. “I do.”
“I wrote it,” Scorpius admitted, a faint blush spreading over his cheeks.
Albus put his mug down on the small coffee table in front of them and turned to his side so he could get a better look at his friend.
“You wrote it?” he asked excitedly, “Scorp, that's amazing! You've always wanted to write stories!”
Scorpius nodded and imitated Albus' stance.
“I did!” he said happily and started rambling: “I didn't know if I could do it, honestly. But at pub night you said that I should just try and let the children judge on whether it's good or not. And that's what I did and the children loved it. And the parents did, too. And this is so amazing I don't even know what to say because it is actually about you. Because you are the Kneazle and I thought that was the only story in my head worth telling and...” he trailed off.
He scrunched up his nose.
“Is it weird that I just said that?”
Albus laughed.
“Okay, one, how am I the Kneazle? And two, er, what?”
The already visible blush on Scporpius' face intensified as he fixed his eyes to anything and everything that was decidedly not Albus.
“You are... I... I was thinking about how I always tried to fit in with everyone else. And tried to be nice to everyone and all they saw was the boy with the monster father. And then you came along and you... were you and you protected me and were there for me and I just... I realised that I don't need those other people. I don't need anyone else, because you make me happy.”
In that moment, something in Albus snapped. His mind fogged up and all he could see was the boy in front of him. He leaned forward and pressed his lips softly onto Scorpius'. It was just a soft lips-on-lips situation but for Albus, his whole world imploded. He sat back, lips tingling and heart flaming until he noticed his friend's petrified expression. Face absolutely still, eyes wide open and posture rigid, as if in shock.
Albus immediately broke.
“I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Scorp,” he muttered over and over again, running his hands over Scorpius' arms.
“I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have done that. I just... my feelings overwhelm me sometimes and you saying that and oh god I'm so sorry, please, Scorp, please,” he pleaded.
He had never been this terrified in his life. Was this the moment he'd lose his best friend? Over what, a stupid kiss? No, this couldn't be.
Slowly, Scorpius brought his fingertips to his lips and let out a shaky breath.
“No, uhm, that's fine,” he said, sounding strained.
“I, uh, wow, so that happened, lips touching. Okay, wow.”
Albus knew that it was best just to let him ramble on for a while when he was like this so he sat back and watched Scorpius' facial expressions go through a hundred emotions.
“Okay, uhm, Al?”
“Yes?”
“Question.”
“Anything.”
“Why did you... do... that?”
Albus thought back to what Teddy had said. That pining for such a long period of time was unhealthy.
He sighed and picked at a non-existent thread on the sofa.
“I, uh, I like you, Scorp.”
“I like you, too, you're my best friend,” Scorpius muttered.
Albus shook his head and took a deep breath, knowing full well that he must be as red as a ripe tomato by now.
“No, Scorp. I like you. I'm in love with you.”
There was silence between them and Albus didn't dare to look up. Suddenly, a hand grasped his softly and stilled his nervous movements before he could rip the whole sofa apart.
He looked up and straight into Scorpius' piercing eyes.
“I... I like you, too,” Scorpius said and gulped, “I... I am in love with you, too.”
Albus furrowed his brow.
“Really?”
Scorpius laughed and threw his head back.
“You know me. I am too awkward for these kinds of situations. Do you really think I would stay if I didn't mean it? If I didn't mean it I would have left ten minutes ago.”
“But,” Albus started, biting his lip, “I don't want you to say that just because I make you happy or whatever...”
“Look,” Scorpius' interrupted him then, “I said you made me happy. You kissing me? Has made me happiest.”
Albus couldn't help himself. Happy laughter bubbled up in him and he grabbed Scorpius' face with both his hands, squishing his cheeks together a bit.
“I love you,” he said once more for good measure before kissing his best friend. Really kissing him. He pressed his lips onto Scorpius', as if he was scared to leave a hair of space between them, not wanting to let him go. Scorpius' hands fisted his shirt, pulling him closer still. Slowly, they began deepening the kiss. They only broke apart, when they were both breathless and panting. They stayed close to each other. Albus' hands dropped to Scorpius' shoulders while Scorpius' hands kept clutching at Albus's shirt and both boys started laughing uncontrollably.
“I love you, too,” Scorpius replied to Albus' earlier admittance and smiled softly.
Albus took the flushed and laughing appearance of his friend – now boyfriend he hoped – in and had to re-evaluate his opinion. This. This right here was Scorpius' at his most beautiful.
“So, kissing. Is new.” Scorpius' finally said when they settled down next to each other, fingers entwined and watching television.
Scorpius' lifted their hands.
“Hand holding, also new.”
Albus giggled: “Calling me your boyfriend, also new.”
Scorpius' grinned.
“Also new. But I think the new thing I like best.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
If asked later, neither of them knew what they'd been watching on the telly. All Albus knew was how grey Scorpius' eyes were and how chapped his lips felt against his own and how utterly perfect their hands fit together. And how the two of them were making each other the happiest.